democratic ticket is hillary. she has the potential to clear out the race. many would be candidates would think twice if clinton was in the race. if she passes on it, it wouldn't mean a return to all male fields. kirst kirsten gillibran and amy klobuchar. this is a trend that will only go on in the weeks to come. democrats are leaning on them more than ever. and there are now a record number of female democrats 16 in what has been a long incubator of presidential candidates. the senate. and in the senate the majority is not comprised of white males. so one way or another, there

will be at least one woman running for a serious campaign for the democratic nomination in 2016. and there'll only be more in the elections after that. expect similar if slower progress on the republican side. women have made strides there, too, but not as dramatically. only four republican women in the senate today. although the gop has the edge when it comes to female governors. this is what the future looks like. presidential fields that look a little more like america. that does it for "the cycle" today. martin, take it away. >> good afternoon. it's wednesday february 6th. and speaker john boehner has spoken. if america's economy collapses, then don't blame him. he did his part. he voted to cut meals on wheels. ♪ >> i don't like the sequester. i think it's taking a meat ax to our government. >> i believe they should at least pass a smaller package of spending cuts and tax reforms.

>> i think the sequester's going to happen. >> washington desperately needs some adult leadership. >> talking like adults. let's get this country back on the mother [ bleep ] track. oh yeah! >> the president and the first lady are kind of like the mom and the dad of the country. >> there isn't any resistance to obama anywhere. >> at some point washington has to deal with its spending problem. >> and when your dad says something, you listen. and when you don't, it usually bites you in the [ bleep ] later on. >> i've had enough of it. it's time to act. ♪ the clock is now ticking on what many economists say is a near-certain double dip recession if more than a trillion dollars in automatic spending and defense cuts are allowed to occur at the beginning of next month. and while the president is busy running the government, today

nominating a new candidate for the interior department. and yesterday pleading for action to prevent the so-called sequester, republicans have been out front telling anyone who will listen that they, too, are absolutely opposed to any cuts to military and discretionary spending. >> i don't like the sequester. i think it's taking a meat ax to our government. a meat ax to many programs, and it will weaken our national defense. >> however, just to be clear, speaker boehner says that he will not allow any new revenues to prevent the ax from falling. and he's not alone. congressman tom cole of oklahoma says we just had additional revenue for the federal government, so i don't see any way in the world the sequester won't happen. not to be outdone, tom rooney of florida says it seems that a large portion of our conference is resigned to the fact that sequestration is okay. what? our conference is resigned to the fact that sequestration is

okay? it's not. it's dangerous. it's a huge mistake. a threat to our liberty. a threat to our liberty? not every republican is willing to show mr. rooney's candor. but if and when the sequester does happen, remember, it's all the president's fault. >> many of your colleagues are saying okay. then there's no deal. let those cut gos through. >> right. sequester is here. it's up to the president to come forward with serious cantor, the president has presented a serious plan. not the one you want, but it's the only one until you party decides whether it's for or against the sequester. >> i believe that they should at least pass a smaller package of spending cuts and tax reforms that would delay the economically damaging effects of the sequester for a few more months until congress finds a way to replace these cuts with a smarter solution. >> and cue the hapless speaker

boehner and his kick the can routine. >> washington has to deal with its spending problem. i've watched them kick this can down the road for the 22 years i've been here. i've had enough of it. it's time to act. >> yes, sir. let's get to our panel now. dana milbank for the washington post and senior fellow at the center on budget and priorities. good day to you both. jared, let's talk about this report that came out tuesday which says that if these trillion-dollar sequester cuts occur, then they'll cut gdp growth in half. >> right. >> tell me this, jared. why are republicans so nonplus about this. and why not look at spain or italy or britain for the evidence? where economists are now predicting a triple-dip recession. all because they applied the paul ryan budget in those countries. that's what they did.

>> well, the word you used there, evidence, is anatima to these folks. if you looked around, you would conclude the best way to take a fragile recovery and turn it into a recession is to whack away at government spending. the private sector is still climbing back. and therefore, we need a robust government sector to compliment that. and that's what the cbo -- it's one of the things the cbo said yesterday. what they said was absent the sequestration which by the way is 85 billion in 2013. not to mention other things congress has done. including taking the payroll tax cut out of the economy. that's over a hundred billion right there. cutting the gdp growth in half. it would be closer to 3%. instead, it's closer to 1.5%. if gdp is growing at 1.5%, the unemployment rate won't go down. it will slowly tick up. >> indeed it will.

dana, no gdp report is all good or all bad. in this report, there are good points. for instance, deficits are decreasing. however, all i ever hear from republicans is the president needs to get serious. from speaker john boehner. that's the best impersonation i can give you. >> it's not bad. >> wasn't very good, nothing personal. >> but dana, is that it? >> well, that was a little raspy, your john boehner. but i think you've captured the sentiment, more or less correctly. and yes, the cbo report shows that the deficit is shrinking. but it is also showing the efforts to shrink the deficit have taken away from growth and the economy. you can't have one of these things without the other. now, i think there's a fallacy in the first question you posed to jared. that is that republicans would be very upset if there were a double-dip recession in a

political sense as rush limbaugh and others have stated, they may be in a stronger position if the economy goes back into recession. then the president and his majority party will be less powerful. so they actually have a political incentive. >> hang on a second, dana. you're saying something that's troublingly close to the idea that they spent the first four years undermining this president and obstructing him in the hope that the economy wouldn't work for him at the election. now you're implying they're happy to destroy the economy for his second term. that is exactly what i'm saying. so you're saying that republican politicians are happy to tank the economy, push us into a recession for the benefit of their own political purposes. >> i don't know if i'd say they're happy to, martin. their constituents are going to suffer as well. but when you dom one of these deadlines like we're going to

have at the end of the month, they have a little bit less of an incentive to blink here. that may have the rosy effect of bringing down the numbers for the president and the democrats. >> jared? >> here's the thing. i don't think the economy is going to go into recession if we have the sequester. if what's going on here is a level of growth is positive but too slow to bring the unemployment rate down, to give people the kind of jobs and earnings opportunities they need. the problem with the economy is we have been stuck in this slog for way too long. >> right. >> and i'm of the mind set that if we actually leave the economy alone, i'd love to see infrastructure investment, for example. that's not going to happen. if we just stop self-inflicting wounds, i think there's enough underlying fundamental recovery that slowly, too slowly in any

estimation, but slowly we would get better. this is not -- let me say. this is not the difference between recession and no recession. it's the difference between actual growth we could benefit from and continued slog. >> but, jared, here's the problem. we talk about cuts to the military. but these cuts could hit localities hard. >> absolutely. >> philadelphia has warned of the possibility of fewer police officers on the streets. then of course the disaster that awaits the poor. does it really make sense for republicans, jared, to stand for protecting tax breaks for oil companies while slashing education training and the number of police officers in philadelphia? >> not only does it not make sense to republicans, but republicans seem to be starting to see into it that it's not the greatest idea at least to run on this idea will take the economy. now they're stuck between the budget that does exactly that and a public face that says don't worry, be happy.

hard to have a public face that says don't worry, be happy when your budget is all about getting rid of programs for the disadvantaged. >> this is the thing, dana. these are not theoretical concepts anymore. this is real. jim miklaszewski says because of the sequester, the u.s. navy has cut its patrolling the persian gulf. the persian gulf, i wonder how they feel about sequestration in iran. >> this is a very real thing. we had eric cantor yesterday giving a speech. he gave one line to the whole question of the fiscal situation. he says but we need to be about more than that. we have to be the happy party that talks about immigration, health care, job growth. all these other things. but then he's right back there talking about the sequester. and the party is unable to

escape from that issue. if you can sigh what this is doing tho the united states military, you can infer it's going to be worse if the republicans with their budget were able to get their way. >> yeah. jared, to that point, you know, the mythical paul ryan budget aside for the moment. that in 35 months, this nation has created six million jobs. the house price. it remains a fragile economy. you said earlier in this interview that you don't think that these sequesters will provoke a double-dip recession. but this isn't going to help where we are now, is it? >> right.

that's exactly my point. i mean, what we're talking about here -- if you think of the economy as sort of a bicycle, what you want to see is it moving enough so it's not wobbly. if you're growing at 2.5% to 3% which by the way cbo said yesterday growth could be 3%. but for all of this fiscal restrax we've been talking about now you're talking about 1.5%. that's a wobbly bicycle. yes, instead of building on some of the smengsed. job growth has done a little better than expected. instead of building on that kind of momentum, we're talking about yet another self-inflicted wound. i don't know how many times i've sat in the chair whether it's debt ceiling, sequester. we have got to stop inflicting wounds on this economy. it is political malpractice. >> indeed, it is.

jared bernstein and dana milbank, thank you so much. >> thank you. much more ahead, but first a lighter moment with the president as he announces his latest cabinet pick. >> when sally's confirmed, i'm willing to bet that she will be the first secretary of the interior who frequently hikes and once spent a month climbing mountains in antarctica which is not something i'd do. because it seems like it'd be cold. and i was born in hawaii. ♪ [ man ] ring ring... progresso this reduced sodium soup says it may help lower cholesterol, how does it work? you just have to eat it as part of your heart healthy diet. step 1. eat the soup. all those veggies and beans, that's what may help lower your cholesterol and -- well that's easy [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. [ babies crying ] surprise --

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if we as a people don't act after sandy hook, then we as a

people are broken. >> doing nothing will fail. doing nothing has failed. >> i'm just here to support the president of the united states. >> there's nothing quite so serious as a comedian who isn't laughing. and that was the scene in washington today as chris rock, tony bennett, and amanda pete joined democratic mayors and congressmen in calling for action to curb the pandemic of gun violence. in just the last 24 hours a woman and two children were shot and killed in denver this morning. in las vegas two men were hospitalized after being shot in the lobby of a movie theater. and in detroit one man is dead and another wounded after being shot near a house allegedly frequented by drug dealers. joining us now is democratic strategist julian epstein and msnbc political analyst, professor michael dyson. we've all had to witness the

black humor of wayne lapierre over the last few weeks. but here's a black comedian on this. >> you don't need gun control. we need bullet control. we need to control the bullets. that's right. i think all bullets should cost $5,000. $5,000. you know why? because if it costs $5,000, there'd be no more innocent bystanders. >> when even comedians and crooners like tony bennett are begging for action, are you becoming more optimistic that the nation is prepared now to do something substantive on this issue? >> well, i am. i'm hopeful at least. optimism may be a shallow virtue fair compared to hope. but i think the evidence is growing in line with people's sentiments across this nation who are simply fed up. we want common sense gun control. we want a president who uses his

bul bully pulpit to talk about the disregard of common sense for those people who are promoting, you know, the loud and vigilant and aggressive no holds barred approach to guns. the nra has to be brought into line here. most americans think we want to protect the second amendment. we don't want to undermine it, but at the same time we want to have common sense approaches here that allow people to say yes enough is enough. and when chris rock and tony bennett and amanda pete come together and forge a connection, i think that sends a powerful message to the nation that yes, this message is getting a broad hearing and people should pay attention. >> julian, to that point, while the nra says even background checks are not worth the time of day, take a look at what the public is saying. a new poll says that 39% of voters are less likely to support a candidate if they're endorsed by the nra.

julian, are we weech reaching a tipping point in terms of the nra and its power and influence over politicians and the nation? >> we are reaching a tipping point. the politics have changed. the question is whether the people that want to do something can overcome the obstructionism by the republicans and the congress who are clearly going against the majority will here. and i just want to underscore a point i made the other day which is that i think right now even the o ent pos are conceding we could get background checks. they can't stop that. because 90% of americans support that. but there is a merging amongst democrats, a path of least resistance wisdom that background checks are all that we can get. that's unfortunate because background checks as important as they are, would not stop the massacre in newtown. they would not have stopped the massacre in aurora. they would probably not have stopped the massacre at virginia

tech. the idea that we now with the numbers you're citing would begin to see the argument. that even though 50% to 60% of americans want action on clips and assault weapons, chris rock said we should be looking at other ways like taxing bullets and ammunition to stop the mayhem we have. 30,000 gun related homicides each year. the gun industry makes maybe a billion dollars in profits but public health professionals would tell you 30,000 homicides are costing this country stens of billions of dollars a year. this is a huge economic crisis as well. i think the fact the democrats would not be talking about ceding the ground. >> publishes its list of most wanted enemies. if you haven't seen it, it's well worth taking a look. here's a quick sample.

first you've got leonard nimoy whose ears are suspiciously like the president's. then you've got lou gossett jr. then there's henry winkler. can you tell me, is an organization like the nra on the right track when they're more frightened of the fonz than of firearms? >> it's all messed up. it better be scared of lou gossett jr. and leonard nimoy, he's just out of this world. the reality is this. the nra is focusing on minutia. what jesus said in the bible, you're schoeking on the small stuff and swallowing whole hogs so to speak. the big stuff here. i think the nra has to come to its senses. being obsessed with the list it puts out. the blacklist of the people who don't comport with them or go

along with their values is nonsense. we are all americans. we are just upset with the way things are going. we are fed up with this. the billions of dollars made by the gun industry should be more than enough compensation for sacrificing just a little. not of its rights but of its responsibility to make sure those who have the guns are acting responsibly and we don't have in the hands of criminals machinery and weaponry that will outmatch or overmatch the police people who are hired to protect us. why can't we get some sensible stuff on this? because the gun lobby is so profoundly in control of its own agenda and it asserts it. i think julian is right. if the democrats cave in on this, it's a tragedy and a shame. because now is the time when the wind is behind them and beneath their wings that they've got to have enough courage and

chutzpah. >> not everybody can be on the enemy's list. if you look at who are behind the president. it's not just the celebrities. i wouldn't be surprised if you're on the enemies list. >> i believe i am. >> i'd imagine. it's parents groups, most of the public behind it. at some point this enemies list is absurd. i think while it's important as i said for democrats in the congress not just to focus on background checks but on the other things that are important, it's also important that we see action can occur at the state and local level. we talked several weeks ago about taking action against irresponsible gun manufacturers. consumers can take action on dealers like walmart and others. so there's lots of things that can be done here to change the politics. but i think your central point is that the politics on this thing, the tide is changing, the nra sand castles are quickly blowing out to sea. >> julian epstein and professor michael eric dyson.

thank you, gentlemen. and we take you now to the ceremonial swearing in of john kerry. moments ago vice president joe biden administerered the oath saying he could think of no better man or woman for the job. stay with us. ♪ ♪

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he can talk to china, mongolia and all the koreas and he eats velveeta shells and cheese. so who are you calling amateur? liquid gold. eat like that guy you know. from a rove and a rove and a rove shall i go to the west coast trumps east coast makeover for my man rubio. hear are today's toplines. i get around. >> we can learn a lot from last election. >> if only people knew what the republicans were about. >> cross roads is second to none in our support of tea party candidates. >> cross roads spent $300 million and republicans lost seats and lost the presidency.

>> cantor is saying we're going to have to do a better job of explaining who we are. >> a fundamental rethinking of the more extreme and antiquated positions that right now form the backbone of the republican party platform. >> ar-15s are commonly available. there are over 3 million in circulation right now in the united states. >> mine's bigger. >> one of the things about an ar-15 is a weapon easily handled by people. >> i beg your pardon. >> my cucumber. it's bigger. >> they should just act according to conservative principles. >> we spent $2.9 million for marco rubio. >> i think tupac's lyrics are more insightful. >> i personally contributed my own money to marco rubio. >> health, happiness, and prosperity. >> young guns. is new generation of leaders. ♪ i get around >> lil' wayne. >> facelift perhaps? that's fueling rumors about a

run for president in 2016. >> i got johnny cash, hank williams, grateful dead. ♪ i get around >> there's actually a tupac song that mentions bob dole. >> i want to win, karl. >> we're losing! >> let's get right to our distinguished panel. i'm joined by my laughing colleague krystal ball who is the co-oes of "the cycle" here on msnbc. contributor jimmy williams. and also jonathan cape hart for the washington post. krystal, it's a big week for marco rubio. we just learned he's going to be delivering the republican response to the president's state of the union address. and he gave an interview last night to buzz feed which kind of made him sound relatively human for a republican. >> that sounds interesting. well, the response to the state of the union is actually a very tough gig. we'll remember when bobby jindal

did it. >> that was terrible. >> really, i mean it was terrible for him. people still remember it. he's still really recovering in the national eye from that response. and it's a hard thing to do. if you're the president, you have all this pomp and circumstance. you have both chambers of congress. you have, you know, national audience. and then -- supreme court justices in front of you. exactly. and then you have to go after that. what's your setting? bob ji jindal chose to do it in something that looks like a hotel lobby. macdonald chose to do it in the virginia house. his was strange and not well received. so it can be a double edged sword here. >> okay. jonathan, senator rubio talked about lots of things at the buzz feed event last night. immigration, global warming. but i think he's most thoughtful on the subject of tupac versus biggie. take a listen. >> the question is why am i not a biggie person? >> yeah. >> well, they weren't initially rivals. you know? that developed later on.

wasn't my fight. you know? so i just think tupac's lyrics were more insightful. my opinion with all apologies to the biggie fans. >> you have to admit, it's a far cry from mitt romney singi inin "who let the dogs out." >> a far cry. >> senator rubio is following a tough act in mitt romney though. >> i'm still trying to figure out whether senator rubio answered the question. if i were asked, i wouldn't know what to say. so i give him mad props for being able to vamp his way through that. but -- >> yeah, but jon, if you were trying to rebrand yourself, then you might be inclined to do a bit of research on hip hop and dress yourself up in this colorful character with a cultural interest which perhaps is slightly surprising. you might do that. >> you might do that, but remember. the republican party's entire focus is on the latino

community, the hispanic vote. to do research on hip hop and tupac versus biggie would require senator rubio and the republicans to go down a road they don't seem to want to go down. >> that's absolutely true. jimmy, karl rove has also been active in the gop's makeover. this one devoted to knocking off tea party candidates like the great todd akin. this of course has offended lots of republicans. so he had some explaining to do last night on sean hannity. take a listen. >> i want to be clear about this. cross roads is second to none in our support of tea party candidates. in 2010 and '12, we spent over $30 million for senate candidates who were tea party candidates. >> what he didn't write down on the little white board there is they've also spent $300 million in fact last year and have nothing to show for it. isn't that why mr. rove is slowly being rejected by many in

his party? >> i think what you're finding is the bush legacy is coming back to bite him in the b-u-t-t. the bad thing is the dog is now cashing the tail pipe. most republicans, many republicans, especially tea party republicans look back on the bush years with no fondness whatsoever. runaway spending, wars they don't like. the list is endless. and they see karl rove as the arkt tect of that. find me a republican that thinks george bush jr. was a good. t. you'll find few. so as the architect of that presidency, he says i'm the king maker of republican candidates. if that's the case, they don't want any part of it. and i don't blame them. >> krystal, if karl rove wasn't happy with todd akin, he's not going to be happy with congressman paul brown who is

filing papers today. he described embryology as a pit out of hell. >> amazing. if he were to win the republican primary, democrats would have a shot at winning that seat in georgia which normally we would never have a real chance at winning. and that's what karl rove and -- that's what the republican establishment is concerned about. here's the thing can karl rove. you cannot spend four years trying to convince the country that the president is a lying socialist intent on destroying america and killing babies and confiscating guns and then turn around and say oh, we don't like the candidates who support those views that we have ourselves been pushing for the past four years. so this is the chickens coming home to roost now. they have to have over a long period of time an evolution where they are convincing their base that they need to have more moderate candidates, more moderate positions. that's going to take time.

>> do you agree with krystal? >> i agree with krystal 100%. they have to have more moderate rhetoric, but they also have to have policy positions that match the rhetoric. >> 100%. >> and when it comes to health care tacks, economy, immigration, gay and z lesbian rights, you name it. the republican party just isn't there. >> and so jimmy do you regard this extreme makeover as being purely cosmetic in effect? >> listen, everybody could have a facelift. the point is at some point it will fall back down again. this is remarkably simple. the party platform of the republicans is their theology. this is what you believe in. it's why you go to the church of politics. if your theology is that black people are lovely and want them to vote for us but don't believe they deserve equal rights of gay people, et cetera. all across the country. then that is your plot form. you can run away from it, but until you change the platform, it is what you stand for. if you don't stand for it b, you

can't go out and say something differently. the democrats have to do exactly the same thing. they own their platform. and guess what? november 6, more of the country liked the democratic platform. they can't just put makeup on it to make it go away. >> indeed they can't. thank you. next, the president prepares for his first trip to one of america's staunchest allieallie. and before we break, happy birthday to the late great bob marley. stay with us. ♪ my bad. tell me you have good insurance. yup, i've got... [ voice of dennis ] ...allstate. really? i was afraid you'd have some cut-rate policy. nope, i've got... [ voice of dennis ] the allstate value plan. it's their most affordable car insurance -- and you still get an allstate agent. i too have... [ voice of dennis ] allstate. [ normal voice ] same agent and everything. it's like we're connected. no we're not. yeah, we are. no, we're not.

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and i was told to call my next of kin. at 33 years old, i was having a heart attack. now i'm on a bayer aspirin regimen. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. i didn't know this could happen so young. take control, talk to your doctor. the white house has announced that the president will make his first-ever presidential trip to israel in the spring. he'll hold the first face to face meetings with prime minister netanyahu since he and the president won re-elections to their respective offices. joining us now is our white

house correspondent kristen welker. kristen, this trip will reportedly include trips in the west bank and jordan. this is also an opportunity for the president to confirm in person what he has repeatedly said about his support for israel and the jewish state. that's right, isn't it? >> it absolutely is right, martin. remember, president obama hasn't visited israel he's got some criticism for that. this trip will allow him to reaffirm his support of israel and to try to strengthen ties with the prime minister. the two have had a somewhat strained relationship over the last several years. this is an opportunity for the president so send a signal. this is his first foreign trip during this second term. it does send a strong message to isra israel. the question is will president obama offer any proposals to try to move the peace process

forward? and vice versa. i asked jay carney that question earlier today. he wouldn't answer specifically expect to say that whenever the two meet, they talk about the peace process. but as our colleagues at first read reported this morning, it is unlikely that president obama would have agreed to such a trip unless he believed that netanyahu would be putting something on the table to try to move the peace process forward. i believe one of the reasons is to move their relationship forward over the next few years. >> the backdrop to any such meeting is the continued threat from iran. and today the treasury department announced further sanctions to constrain iranian oil revenues. once netanyahu addressed the united nations, he spoke of the iranians developing a nuclear weapon in the near future. do you expect the president to come under further pressure from

the aiz risraelis to do more? >> i think that is something we have seen for quite some time now. he said he believes iran is just about six months from developing the materials necessary to develop a nuclear bomb. and they have criticized the united states for not being tough enough on iran. i do believe that is something that they will discuss certainly when they sit down iran has been one of the key issues that has really strained tension between the two nations. of course they will discuss syria as well. >> white house correspondent kristen welker. thanks for battling your cold for us over the past few days. next, america's longest waging war. a battle being waged against more than half of all americans. but first tyler mathisen has the cnbc market wrap. good afternoon. >> martin, i'm not supposed to say this because no day at cnbc is boring in the market but today was kind of a boring day in. the dow industrials ended on the plus side by about seven points.

the s&p was also higher by a little less than one point. but the nasdaq was down about three points. that's the story from here. martin bashir will be back after this. [ indistinct shouting ] ♪ [ indistinct shouting ] [ male announcer ] time and sales data. split-second stats. [ indistinct shouting ] ♪ it's so close to the options floor... [ indistinct shouting, bell dinging ] ...you'll bust your brain box. ♪ all on thinkorswim from td ameritrade. ♪ [ male announcer ] marie callender's puts everything you've grown to love about sunday dinner into each of her pot pies. tender white meat chicken and vegetables in a crust made from scratch. marie callender's. it's time to savor.

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in yet another sign of his willingness no respect religious convictions, the president has amended the affordable care act in relation to the availability of birth control. >> after the many genuine concerns that have been raised over the last few weeks, as well as frankly the more cynical on the part of some to make this into a political football. under the rule, women will still have access to free preventive care. that includes contraceptive services. no matter where they work. >> but despite this effort at compromise, the pro-life caucus in congress says it offers no relief whatsoever. and an archbishop says the new

rules make things worse. let's ask someone who knows more about this issue. cecilia richards is the president of planned parenthood and joins us. welcome. >> thank you. >> does this make matters worse? does it make it more difficult? >> absolutely not. what the white house released simplifies what they have said. which is religious churches i think it makes a lot of sense. they think your boss can't decide whether or not you get birth control. and this is -- birth control is the most commonly prescribed medicine for women in america. 99% of women use it. that's the basic principle the president are talking about here. >> what are people talking about saying it much worse now? >> i have no idea what they're talking about. it's simply i think these are folks who don't want women to have access to birth control.

we see already some politics saying we have more than 45 lawsuits now fighting against the right of women to get birth control no matter where they work. it's just insane in the 21st century we're having this conversation. >> it is. and the opposition to woman controlling their own bodies continues. in arkansas, state senator jason rapaport is making it illegal into pregnancy si. he wanted it to be as applied to six weeks when you can't know when people are prnts in some cases. and north dakota is considering another bill. and mississippi is trying to shut down the only remaining abortion clinic in the state. how concerned are you as the president of planned parenthood at these localized efforts to overturn a supreme court ruling that's 40 years old? >> i'm desperately concerned but what we're seeing is a pattern. we saw at election in november the largest gender gap ever in a

presidential election. rejected mitt romney's decisions to get rid of planned parenthood. now we're seeing plooig politicians going back at it. and the irony is the same folk who is are passing these bills unconstitutional laws that would make abortion illegal and inaccessible in these states are the same folks who are fighting against us providing birth control for women. the very thing that helps prevent unintended pregnancy in the first place. >> can you explain the logic of that to our audience. >> what we're seeing are some members in an extreme wing of the republican party who simply want to take reproduct ihealth care access away from women. it doesn't make sense. for the three women who come to planned parenthood every year, many come for birth control. it's nonsensical. >> the truth is that what you do at planned parenthood, 97% of it concerns women's health. it has nothing to do with terminating pregnancies.

>> it's preventive care. if you want to prevent unintended pregnancy, the best thing is have access to birth control. which is why i cannot believe in the 21st century we're fighting over whether or not women will have birth control covered that their insurance plans. >> thank you for your efforts. >> absolutely. >> cecile richards, thank you so much. we'll be right back. ♪ i gave birth to my daughter on may 18th, five days later, i had a massive heart attack. bayer aspirin was the first thing the emts gave me. now, i'm on a bayer aspirin regimen. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. [ woman ] learn from my story. before you begin an aspirin regimen. why take exercise so seriously,when it can be fun? push-ups or sprints? what's wrong with fetch? or chase? let's do this larry!

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basic tenets of christian teaching and found them to be far apart. there were the obvious like newt gingrich who never ceases to sell his membership of the catholic church but is the serial adulterer. then there was herman cain who claimed the mantle of faith but had to drop out after sexual harassment and disgraceful behavior toward women. then there was this guy. >> this catholic deer hunter is proud of that and i'm guilty as charged. that's who we are, this country. i happily cling to my guns and my religion. >> that, of course, was congressman paul ryan. aiming a cheap shot at the president who in 2008 spoke about people in small towns who may have felt em bitered and overlooked by governments. while mr. ryan flogged his faith throughout the campaign, he was ex